Wiggle Honda Pro CyclingOffical Home of Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling2015-03-29T19:37:54Zhttp://wigglehonda.com/feed/atom/WordPressBen Atkinshttp://wigglehonda.com/?p=42912015-03-29T19:37:54Z2015-03-29T19:37:54Zmore »]]>Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Chloe Hosking took third place in what has been described as an epic edition of Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields, while Elisa Longo Borghini narrowly missed the podium in the Trofeo Alfredo Binda Comune di Cittiglo in Italy. The black and orange team was in action on two fronts, with riders making the selections in both races, but was just unable to match the success of the two previous weekends.

Floortje Mackaij (Liv-Plantur) won Gent-Wevelgem with a late solo attack, with Hosking just beaten into second by Janneke Ensing (Parkhotel Valkenburg) a few seconds later. Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Belgian Champion Jolien D’hoore won the sprint for fourth place at the head of the next group.

The race was run in strong wind and heavy rain, which caused many to call for the men’s WorldTour race – which was being run concurrently – to be neutralised.

“It was awesome!” Hosking exclaimed. “I think maybe the wind got stronger in the day, for the guys, but for sure there were girls being blown off the road, and I had a few sketchy moments where girls that had too deep wheels on almost took me out. I just love this kind of racing though. Maybe it was a little bit dangerous, but it was real Belgium spring classic racing. Maybe I’m just crazy!

“The peloton was already pretty small when we hit the Kemmelberg for the first time. It got select over the hills, but it was really the crosswinds that did the damage. I suddenly looked round and there was a group of about ten, and some of the big names weren’t there.

“It wasn’t until the second time over the Kemmelberg and Monteberg that it really split up. Only five girls went over the top together – Jolien was up there for us, which was great – and I was the sixth rider, just hanging off the back, but I knew the descent and I knew that I’d be able to get back on.”

The group was reduced to just nine riders, with Hosking and D’hoore present, but late attacks split the group further in the final run to the finish in Wevelgem.

“I said straight away ‘this is Gent-Wevelgem, this is Jolien’s race,’” Hosking explained. “But, in the end, Liv-Plantur had the numbers and made it count. They started launching attacks, and I think I covered maybe three or four – and Jolien covered one – but Mackaij attacked with about three-k to go and I just hesitated.

“I was so exhausted. It was me and Ensing, but we just couldn’t close the gap. I rolled through with about a kilometre to go, and she left me stuck on the front and took me for second place. Finishing third wasn’t fantastic for us because Jolien really had the legs and would have been able to take the sprint if it had stayed together, but Liv-Plantur had the numbers and played it really well.

“It wasn’t the best, but it’s nice to finish on the podium, and we’re really looking good for the Tour of Flanders next Sunday.”

The Trofeo Binda was won by Lizzie Armitstead (Boels-Dolmans) at the head of a selective group of six riders, with the Rabo-Liv duo of World Champion Pauline Ferrand Prevot and Anna van der Breggen outsprinting Longo Borghini to the final podium spots.

“I’m satisfied with the form I have, because I was sick in the days before this race and I didn’t know what my condition is,” Longo Borghini said afterwards. “I’m there, and I’m happy that I was there in the front group today.

“I’m just feeling a bit sad because I really wanted to get a podium place for my team, because they worked really, really well and everyone did their job. I just couldn’t sprint fast enough for third place, but I’m happy.”

Racing in fine weather, the peloton stayed largely together during the opening long lap – with only solo attacks from Simona Frapporti (Alé-Cipollini) and Katrin Garfoot (Orica-AIS) breaking the deadlock. On the four hilly 17.1km finishing laps, however, the race came to life.

Longo Borghini was part of a six-rider move that included Armitstead, Ferrand Prevot and van der Breggen, as well as Alena Amialiusik (Velocio-SRAM) and Yolanda Neff (Switzerland), which proved to be the winning move of the race. Ferrand Prevot made a solo bid for glory, but was chased down by Longo Borghini, Armitstead, Ferrand Prevot and van der Breggen, with the other two just managing to rejoin in the final kilometres.

“The last three laps we were on fire, it was an explosion!” Longo Borghini exclaimed. “There were a lot of attacks and I managed to counter and follow and to be there until the last corner. I have to admit that I took the last corner wrong. I was the last one, and I had to sprint, and I couldn’t reach the third place.

“I’m happy, but I wanted to give a podium place to the girls that worked for me,” she added. “We will be really strong in [next week’s Tour of] Flanders, I’m so sure. My condition is growing, I feel confident and I feel strong.”

]]>0Ben Atkinshttp://wigglehonda.com/?p=42632015-03-26T08:41:00Z2015-03-26T08:41:00Zmore »]]>Elisa Longo Borghini will lead the Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling team at the Trofeo Alfredo Binda Comune di Cittiglio, the second round of the 2015 UCI Women’s Road World Cup, this Sunday, the 29th of March. The 23-year-old Italian won the 2013 edition of what is arguably her country’s most prestigious one-day race under torrential rain and, while conditions are expected to be fine this weekend – as it was last year, when she finished sixth as part of the leading group of eight riders – she remains one of the riders to watch.

With the start town of Laveno-Mombello just a short ferry ride across Lake Maggiore from her home in Verbania, she knows that she will have plenty of local support.

“It’s almost on my home soil and it’s always really nice to race there because all my family and friends are there cheering for me,” she said. “Winning it in 2013 was a dream.”

Longo Borghini has already shown some incredible form this season, despite trying to keep her expectations low. The 23-year-old took a battling third place in the Strade Bianche on the 7th of March, and was instrumental in the lead out of Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling teammate Jolien D’hoore in the Ronde van Drenthe World Cup the following week.

Unfortunately, Longo Borghini has suffered from illness shortly after the Ronde van Drenthe, but still hopes to be in the right condition for Sunday’s race.

“I was pretty disappointed to have fallen sick a few days before the World Cup,” she said. “I will try to train as best as I can this upcoming week for being in my best shape in Cittiglio.

“I’m finally feeling better though,” Longo Borghini added. “I still don’t know how I will be on Sunday, but I’m sure we can put on a good show Saturday! The team is strong and I’m sure our performance as a squad will be good!”

Longo Borghini’s Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling teammates will be supporting her in her bid to win her local World Cup race for a second time, but all are capable of taking a result themselves should the opportunity arise. Former two-time Road World Champion Giorgia Bronzini finished second in the 2007 Trofeo Binda, the year before the race became part of the World Cup, and her eighth place last year confirms that the 31-year-old is more than capable of getting over the hills to use her devastating sprint at the finish.

French rider Audrey Cordon-Ragot proved in last weekend’s Cholet Pays de Loire that she is more than capable of sprinting for victory at the end of a hilly race, while Mara Abbott’s two Giro d’Italia titles attest to the fact that the former US Champion’s climbing skills are virtually unrivalled in the women’s peloton.

The black and orange team will be completed by Japanese Champion Mayuko Hagiwara and former Spanish Champion Anna Sanchis, both of whom were instrumental in Cordon-Ragot’s victory last week.

]]>0Ben Atkinshttp://wigglehonda.com/?p=42602015-03-23T14:13:32Z2015-03-23T14:13:32Zmore »]]>Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling will line up at the start of the women’s Gent-Wevelgem for the first time this coming Sunday, the 29th of March, with Belgian Champion Jolien D’hoore hoping to continue her outstanding run of form. The 25-year-old celebrated her birthday with victory in the Ronde van Drenthe World Cup last week, which came hot on the heels of her first road victory for the black and orange team at the Omloop van Het Hageland the previous Sunday.

Since then D’hoore has worked hard in the service of her teammates, but hopes to be able to show her black, yellow and red jersey off again on her home roads this week.

“Gent-Wevelgem is a race close to my heart,” she said. “It’s a typical Belgian spring classic so it should suit my abilities. This year it’s ‘only’ a 1.2 but the organisation of Gent-Wevelgem has bigger plans for the future. They really support women’s cycling and want to help in the growth of it.”

Although the 2015 Gent-Wevelgem will be only the fourth edition for women – and although it only ranks as 1.2 on the UCI calendar – the event carries considerable prestige thanks to the history of the men’s WorldTour Classic that it is run alongside. The 115km course will start in the historic city of Ieper (Ypres) – famous for the battles that were fought around it in World War I – and include five climbs, including two ascents of the infamous Kemmelberg, before the familiar flat run in to the finish in Wevelgem.

“There will also be some media coverage from [Belgian TV station] Sporza,” D’hoore added. “Enough reasons to show my Belgian champion jersey! The team is really strong at the moment so we can rely on each other in the race, and that makes it a lot easier and relaxed for every one of us.

“We are all motivated and ready for another beautiful race in Belgium!”

D’hoore will be joined in the Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling line up by Australian Chloe Hosking, who provided the Belgian champion with a textbook lead out in Drenthe before sprinting to second place herself in the Novilon Eurocup the next day. The powerful team will be completed by the British trio of Anna Christian, Amy Roberts and National Criterium Champion Eileen Roe.

Unfortunately, the team will be without the strength of Emilia Fahlin, with the former Swedish Champion suffering from illness, as well as the effects of her crash in the Ronde van Drenthe last week.

]]>0Ben Atkinshttp://wigglehonda.com/?p=42592015-03-22T18:49:28Z2015-03-22T18:49:28Zmore »]]>Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Audrey Cordon-Ragot won the Cholet Pays de Loire, in the Maine-et-Loire town of Cholet, in western France, in a three-up sprint. The French rider, who lives just 60km from the race finish, outpaced former teammates Amélie Rivat (Poitou-Charentes-Futuroscope) and Miriam Bjornsrud (Hitec Products) at the end of a 116km race whose latter stages were dominated by Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling riders.

Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Belgian Champion Jolien D’hoore took the sprint for fourth place, at the head of the next group on the road, 22 seconds later.

“That was so good!” Cordon-Ragot smiled. “I’ve done this race since 2006. I won it in 2012, and I was also on the podium. I really wanted to win because I wanted to thank my teammates for all their hard work today. Also, because I worked a lot for the team in the past weeks, and they wanted to thank me as well.

“Today they were protecting me, so I had to win. I didn’t have any choice!” she laughed. “This race is close to my home, and my family was there, and it’s not every race that your family can come. It’s in France too, so it’s good.”

The race was made up of four laps of a 29km circuit around Cholet, which featured the climbs of La Tessoualle and La Séguinière. Despite several attempted breakaways, the peloton was all together as it entered the third lap but, very soon afterwards, a group of 19 riders got away. Most of the strong teams in the race were represented, with Cordon-Ragot, D’hoore and Japanese Champion Mayuko Hagiwara there for Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling, and so the group’s advantage was able to build beyond three and a half minutes.

Late pressure from Cordon-Ragot saw the group reduced to 12 riders, before a final attack saw the French rider escape with Rivat and Bjornsrud.

“We were really good,” Cordon-Ragot said. “We were three at the front, but some other teams had four – like Futuroscope and Lointek – but I think we were the three that were the strongest. Mayuko was so strong, she just did the perfect job. She was pulling on every climb, before the last lap; finally I pulled on the last lap, but that didn’t work, but after that I tried again and that was a good one!

“I wasn’t worried about Amélie, because I was a teammate of hers, and I know that she isn’t faster than me,” Cordon-Ragot continued. “I was more worried about Miriam; I know that she can be fast, but she couldn’t really pass me when were turning before the last finish line, so I knew that she was full gas.

“If I didn’t think I could win the sprint I would have waited for Jolien, and she could win, but I was quite sure of myself.”

Having worked so hard for her teammates since the very beginning of the season, it was Cordon-Ragot’s turn to be the protected rider in what is her local race. After guiding D’hoore to her maiden World Cup victory in Drenthe last weekend, the Belgian champion was determined to return the compliment this time.

“Jolien really wanted for me to win today,” said Cordon-Ragot. “The plan was to protect me, so we did that. I tried, and tried, and tried, and finally it worked. We really wanted for me to win, but if it was a bunch sprint then Jolien would be the fastest.”

Cordon-Ragot’s victory makes her the fourth different winner for Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling in 2015. Having won in Cholet three years ago, in a solo breakaway, the 25-year-old Bretonne recognises the difference with her first victory in the colours of Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling.

“Maybe the difference is that I’m stronger,” she explained. “I feel I’m a different woman now. I’m part of one of the biggest teams in the World now, so it’s different. You have the feeling that you’re there because you’re strong, and you’re winning because you’re strong. It’s not a poker game, it’s really a team race – a team game – it’s the most important part of winning, to know that you’re not alone; you know that there are five other girls there next to you, to help you, so it’s a different feeling.”

]]>0Ben Atkinshttp://wigglehonda.com/?p=42442015-03-15T20:00:40Z2015-03-15T19:52:23Zmore »]]>Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Chloe Hosking closed a near-perfect weekend in the Drenthe region of the Netherlands with a close second place in the Novilon Eurocup behind Dutch super-sprinter Kirsten Wild (Hitec Products). The 24-year-old Australian has spent the last eight days working tirelessly for her teammates – providing Belgian Champion Jolien D’hoore with a perfect lead out in yesterday’s Ronde van Drenthe – but this time was to be the protected rider herself. She finished less than a wheel behind Wild at the end of the 134km race, with Luxembourg Champion Christine Majerus (Boels-Dolmans) just behind them in third.

“The girls said they were seeing black and couldn’t ride in a straight line anymore,” Hosking joked about the work done by teammates D’hoore, Audrey Cordon-Ragot and Elisa Longo Borghini. “Jolien dropped me onto Wild’s wheel with about one kilometre to go and I only just missed getting her on the line.”

The race, like the other Drenthe races – the Drentse 8 and Ronde van Drenthe – was characterised by the sharp bumpy cobbles that are typical of the region, and the wind that had been missing for the first two races made its presence felt.

“The race split to pieces within a few kilometres,” Hosking explained. “Rabobank started hitting it in the crosswinds and it was just a scrambling act to try and get in the echelon. Jolien and I managed to slot in and we were rolling with the group of about fifteen for the next 80km.

“Unfortunately Audrey got caught in a crash and Elisa was waiting so those girls missed the front split. But it all came back together with 40km to go anyway.”

Several attacks followed and, with 20km to go, Dutch Champion Iris Slappendel (Bigla) and Tayler Wiles (Velocio-SRAM) managed to escape. They were later joined by Lucinda Brand (Rabobank) and the three riders looked to have the race sewn up between them. A powerful chase from Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling saw them caught before the finish, however.

“Yeah three girls escaped on the finish and it was sort of a ‘do we or don’t we’ situation,” Hosking explained. “It was clear the other teams were waiting for us, so with 10km to go the girls all jumped on the front and did an incredible job to close the gap. We only caught the lead three with about one kilometre to go.”

The Novilon Eurocup was Hosking’s fifth race in just eight days, with the Australian’s tireless teamwork contributing to Longo Borghini’s third place in the Strade Bianche, and the victories of Giorgia Bronzini in the Drentse 8, and D’hoore in the Omloop van Het Hageland and the Ronde van Drenthe.

This time Hosking’s teammates would be working for her, and the Australian only narrowly missed out on Wiggle Honda’s fourth victory in a week.

“It was so awesome for the girls to back me one hundred percent today,” she said. “In the other races we’ve gone in and said we’ll talk in the race to see who feels the best but in the camper today they said: ‘we go for Chloe.’

“It’s disappointing not to have finished off their hard work, but second isn’t terrible at the end of the day.”

]]>0Ben Atkinshttp://wigglehonda.com/?p=42242015-03-14T19:24:50Z2015-03-14T19:24:50Zmore »]]>Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Jolien D’hoore celebrated the occasion of her 25th birthday with victory in the Boels Rentals Ronde van Drenthe, the opening round of the 2015 UCI Women’s Road World Cup, in Hoogeveen, Netherlands. The Belgian Champion was expertly delivered to the finishing straight by a lead out from teammates Chloe Hosking, Audrey Cordon-Ragot and Elisa Longo Borghini at the end of a fascinating 138km race that saw several breakaway groups get away. Amy Pieters (Liv-Plantur) finished second, with Ellen van Dijk (Boels-Dolmans) third; such was the pace of Hosking’s lead out that the Australian crossed the line in fifth.

“Today was pretty good so far, I had an amazing birthday!” D’hoore laughed. “We rode as a team again, it was super-great. We were there at the important moments. We haven’t rehearsed the lead out or anything, it just came naturally! Audrey did the first part, then Elisa took over, and Chloe did the lead out. It was great!

“It was not easy! It is never easy!” D’hoore added. “But still I felt good today, I had good legs, and I was confident about my sprint, and that’s what I told the team. I’m very thankful for the trust in me.”

The 138km course is characterised by the sharp, bumpy cobbles of the Drenthe region, the narrow winding roads, and three climbs of the the short, but steep VAM-berg; a reclaimed landfill site, which is virtually the only hill in the area.

The early kilometres were attritional, as the peloton crossed the several cobbled sectors, but unfortunately Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Swedish powerhouse Emilia Fahlin was taken down by a crash in the bunch and forced to abandon. After the final climb of the VAM-berg, with 28.6km to go, however, a group of 16 riders were clear of the rest, with four Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling riders present.

Although Giorgia Bronzini had not made the split, the former two-time road World Champion was working hard in the chase group to disrupt its progress as best she could.

On the flat approach to the race’s 7.9km finishing circuit Longo Borghini got clear in a breakaway group, with Chantal Blaak (Boels-Dolmans), Roxane Knetemann (Rabo-Liv) and Tiffany Cromwell (Velocio-SRAM). The four riders gained almost 30 seconds, which might have been a race-winning lead under normal circumstances. Longo Borghini was in the break to protect D’hoore, however, with Cromwell also riding for her own teammate Barbara Guarischi, so only the two Dutch riders were working.

“The race was very close because there was not much wind,” D’hoore explained. “And then the second time on the VAM-berg the race kind of exploded and we got away with a group. I don’t know how many were there – maybe 15 – and I was there, Chloe was there, and Elisa and Audrey.

“Eventually Giorgia also came to the group, so it was perfect for us, we could play team tactics.

“Elisa got away in a group of four, and she didn’t have to do anything, and we could stay in the back and say ‘we have Elisa in front,’” D’hoore added. “Then the group behind came back to us, and so it was a bunch sprint, and the team did an amazing lead out. The last two-k was amazing.”

Just after the bell the 16-strong group came back together and, thanks to the dropping of pace, the bulk of the peloton also managed to rejoin with five kilometres to go, which meant that the race was heading for a certain bunch sprint.

As the finish approached Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling seized control, with all four riders lining up at the front of the peloton behind Cordon-Ragot. The French rider pulled the bunch to just short of the final kilometre, where Longo Borghini took over, and the Italian continued to set a pace so fierce that no other team was able to challenge.

Longo Borghini handed over to Hosking, whose burst of speed initially pulled D’hoore clear of the rest of the field. Although Pieters was able to regain contact with the Belgian Champion’s back wheel, D’hoore was in the clear as she launched her sprint with 150 metres to go and crossed the line several lengths ahead of the Dutch rider.

D’hoore’s victory was her second in the space of a week, following her win in Sunday’s Omloop van Het Nieuwsblad, and the third for Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling after Giorgia Bronzini’s in the Drentse 8 on Thursday. It is a first ever victory in the World Cup for both the rider and the black and orange team, however, and earns the 25-year-old the leader’s jersey in the season-long series.

“I couldn’t believe it!” D’hoore exclaimed. “I have the leader’s jersey; I just won a World Cup; on my birthday! What else is there? I’m happy!

“We have three cakes and a bottle of wine,” she added. “I think we have enough!”

]]>0Ben Atkinshttp://wigglehonda.com/?p=41902015-03-12T20:28:27Z2015-03-12T20:25:49Zmore »]]>Giorgia Bronzini took Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s second victory in five days as she won the Molecaten Drentse 8 van Westerveld in Dwingeloo, Netherlands, in a sprint from a group of seven riders. The former two-time road World Champion was by far the fastest of the breakaway that arrived at the finish at the end of the 138km race, beating Valentina Scandolara (Orica-AIS) and Annemiek van Vleuten (Bigla) into second and third.

“I told the girls that I wasn’t feeling so good today, because of my wrist and I have a cold, so I would work for them,” Bronzini said. “We came into the small lap and I was up the front, and there was an attack – the first really serious one – and I jumped over, and the break had gone!

“I could do nothing, I was in the break!” Bronzini laughed. “I tried to be a little bit smart because my shape is not the best, and I can’t work really hard. I thought that the break would be chased down by the other teams, but it wasn’t. I tried to take my turn, but I didn’t have any power.

“In the end they tried to attack me, but I could follow the moves,” she added. “I was on van Vleuten’s wheel on the last corner, and I gave her a little bit of a gap. I came out with 200 metres to go, and it was okay at the end!”

Bronzini’s win is her first of the season, but the second for Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling inside five days, after Belgian Champion Jolien D’hoore’s Omloop van het Hagelend victory on Sunday.

“We are going well! It’s good!” Bronzini laughed.

The race – so called because the route map traditionally resembles a figure-eight – consisted of two loops of a long circuit to make up the first 101.7km, and finished with five laps of a 7.4km circuit. The usual winds that dominate races in this part of the Netherlands were absent, which saw the peloton stay together for much of race but, as the race hit the smaller circuit, the decisive break got clear on the narrow roads.

The group originally numbered eight, with Bronzini, Scandolara and Van Vleuten joined by Loren Rowney (Velocio-SRAM), Willeke Knol (Liv-Plantur), Emilie Moberg (Hitec Products), Alice Arzuffi (Inpa-Sottoli) and Heather Fischer (USA). The break built a lead of more than half a minute, before being pegged back to just ten seconds for some time. As the main peloton began to split behind them, however, the gap began to grow again, to almost two minutes as the eight riders entered the final kilometres.

Attacks and accelerations saw Arzuffi dropped in the last few kilometres to take the break down to seven, but nobody was able to break free. Despite a late move from van Vleuten the group arrived at the finish together and, although she was feeling far from her best, Bronzini – as expected – was the fastest.

The finish was marred a little after a spectator appeared to reach out his arm and grab Rowney’s handlebars as she passed, causing the Velocio-SRAM rider to come crashing down just behind Bronzini; the Australian unfortunately suffered a fractured collarbone and the incident is currently being investigated by the race organisation.

“In the first moments I thought that it maybe was my fault, but my sprint was okay and she had time,” Bronzini explained. “We just saw the video and someone – a spectator – took her handlebar, and that is really crazy; a really crazy thing!”

]]>0Ben Atkinshttp://wigglehonda.com/?p=41422015-03-08T18:30:07Z2015-03-08T18:30:07Zmore »]]>Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Jolien D’hoore took the team’s first victory of 2015 – and her first ever for the black and orange team – in the Omloop van hat Hageland, in Tielt-Winge, to the east of Brussels, with a dominant sprint over a group of eleven riders. The Belgian champion had plenty of time to sit up and show her black, yellow and red driekleur jersey as she crossed the line several lengths clear of Chantal Blaak (Boels-Dolmans) in second place, with Sara Mustonen (Liv-Plantur) just behind the Dutch rider in third.

Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Chloe Hosking finished just behind D’hoore in ninth place, having travelled overnight from yesterday’s Strade Bianche to dictate much of the race on behalf of her Belgian teammate.

“I didn’t expect to get my first win so soon!” D’hoore said. “My first race in the Omloop [Het Nieuwsblad] was not so good, but then Wednesday was a lot better and today I felt really good. I’m happy with my shape at the moment, and I’m really happy to get this win for the team – the first win for the team.

“Yesterday Chloe did the Strade Bianche, and she rode about 13 hours in the car to get here!” D’hoore exclaimed. “She didn’t know how she was going today, but she was really strong!

“She did the perfect lead out for the sprint, so it was really incredible, and I’m really thankful to have her as a teammate.”

The 120km race, which saw Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s first ever victory in 2013 – through New Zealander Emily Collins – was made up of a 53.1km opening loop followed by five laps of 13.4km circuit, featuring the climb of the Roeselberg halfway round each lap. Hosking led D’hoore over the top of the cobbled Kerkstraat climb, after 49km, with the broken field strung out behind them, to set the tone for much of the latter part of the race.

“This was the third time I’ve done this race,” D’hoore explained. “The course suits me; it’s up and down. It doesn’t look very hard on paper, but when you do it, in the final you feel every climb. So that’s what makes it hard.

“There was a cobbled climb, and Chloe was in first position and I was in second,” she added. “Chloe went so fast that we had a gap, and we were only two, so I had to tell her to slow down because there were still 70km to go!”

The was a lone attack from Team USA rider Heather Fischer at the end of the first local lap, and the American was able to get almost a minute clear. She was gradually closed down, however, and caught with two laps to go; shortly before the decisive move of the race was to take place.

On the climb of the Roeselberg on that penultimate lap, the eleven-rider group pulled clear, with Hosking and D’hoore present. There were enough quality riders in the group – as well as most of the strong teams represented – to be able to open up a decisive gap.

“Evelyn Stevens of Boels attacked, and Amy Pieters [Liv-Plantur] went with her, then everybody came and the eleven strongest girls of the race were there,” said D’hoore. “I was pleased that we were in a breakaway, because it was much safer. Today was really dangerous in the bunch.”

Coming into the finish, Belgian Champion D’hoore was the outstanding favourite for victory, but with riders like Blaak present – who won Wednesday’s Le Samyn race – as well as fast sprinters like Team USA’s Coryn Rivera, she could take nothing for granted.

“I took the wheel of Chantal Blaak, because she won on Wednesday, so I knew she was pretty fast,” said D’hoore. “But then I saw the Chloe in front, and I said ‘yeah, maybe I’ll take the wheel of Chloe.’

“So I took Chloe’s wheel, and I screamed to her ‘let’s do it!’ and she did a lead out and it was perfect. Apparently I had a few lengths in front of Chantal Blaak; I didn’t know, I saw it on the photos and it looked good!”

]]>0Ben Atkinshttp://wigglehonda.com/?p=41222015-03-07T15:48:37Z2015-03-07T15:48:37Zmore »]]>Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Elisa Longo Borghini took an excellent third place in the first ever edition of the Women’s Strade Bianche, across the unmade white roads of Tuscany. The 23-year-old Italian was just beaten to the line, in Siena’s historic Piazza del Campo, by Lizzie Armitstead (Boels-Dolmans) as they raced for second place, 37 seconds behind Armitstead’s teammate Megan Guarnier’s solo victory.

“I’m really happy with this race,” Logo Borghini said. “The team worked really well until the longest section of gravel. They managed to put me in the best position, and from there we were 15 riders – I think – with the majority of Boels, Rabo and Bigla. All I had to do was basically to follow them, and to stay with them.”

A group of 14 riders broke clear at the front of the race as it crossed the longest section of Strade Bianche, at San Martino in Grania, just after the halfway point of the 103km course. Longo Borghini was present, while Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling teammate Audrey Cordon-Ragot was in a group of three riders just behind.

On the next gravel section the lead group was cut to just five, with Longo Borghini, Guarnier, Armitstead, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Hitec Products) and Anna Van Der Breggen (Rabo Liv). The two Boels-Dolmans riders then combined attacks on the next section, which saw Guarnier escape with around 20km to go, and the American rider was able to build her decisive lead.

“In the end Guarnier went away,” Longo Borghini explained. “They were playing with the numbers. They were too many for me; I couldn’t follow them. But I’m satisfied. I’m really happy.”

With Guarnier almost a minute ahead and approaching the final climb to the finish, the battle for second place began behind her. On the steep slopes of the final kilometre, with gradients of up to 16%, Longo Borghini, Armitstead and Moolman-Pasio fought for the remaining podium positions.

“First Moolman attacked, and Lizzie countered and I followed,” Longo Borghini explained. “I managed to pass Moolman and took second in the sprint. I didn’t really know my level at the moment, I didn’t know my condition, but after this race I feel a bit more confident about my shape. I think I’m there, and I think I can perform well in the next races.”

The Strade Bianche is organised by RCS Sport, which also runs the Giro d’Italia, Tirreno-Adriatico, Milano-Sanremo and il Lombardia. After the success of this first women’s edition of what – despite only having been run since 2007 – is one of the biggest one-day races on the Italian calendar, Longo Borghini hopes that there may be more to come.

“It was really amazing to have a women’s Strade Bianche I think,” she said. “It’s really important for women’s cycling – and for Italian cycling. This is a special race, because it’s not common for us to race on gravel. Different skills from the athletes come out in different parts, and this is nice because it gives other riders the chance to perform well. It’s a fascinating race.

“It would be really nice to have a women’s race alongside all the other Classics!”

]]>0Ben Atkinshttp://wigglehonda.com/?p=40982015-03-05T09:52:08Z2015-03-05T09:52:08Zmore »]]>Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s athletes are ready to race in Saturday’s inaugural edition of the Strade Bianche for women, which is almost certain to be one of the most prestigious and spectacular events of the season. Despite only having been run since 2007, the Strade Bianche has already taken on something of a Classic status thanks to the beautiful Tuscan landscape that it crosses, and the way it harks back to the Golden Age of cycling.

The 103km race will depart from the Piazza Duomo in the iconic Medieval hilltop town of San Gimignano, with its fourteen famous towers, and cross a total of 17.4km of Tuscany’s white roads on the way to the beautiful Piazza del Campo in the provincial capital of Siena.

The two Italian riders in Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s roster will doubtless take centre stage, with Elisa Longo Borghini and former two-time road World Champion Giorgia Bronzini taking the start. Longo Borghini – whose recently retired elder brother Paolo rode the first five editions of the race – has been the face of the women’s event, and featured in RCS Sport’s media campaign.

Although the course should suit the 23-year-old Classics specialist, Longo Borghini is circumspect about her chances in such a tough event so early in the season.

“For Strade Bianche I don’t expect anything in particular,” Longo Borghini said. “I simply want to race freely and without having so much pressure, enjoying every kilometre of the race which is in my opinion one of the nicest and charming on the calendar.

“Anyway,” she added. “I’m sure the our team can achieve a good result!”

As one of the most experienced riders in the women’s peloton, Bronzini is well aware of the significance of another big men’s race adding a women’s event. The Strade Bianche will be the first women’s race to be organised by RCS Sport – the organiser of the men’s Giro d’Italia and several other Classic events – since the sad demise of the Primavera Rosa – the women’s Milano-Sanremo – in 2005.

“I’m really excited to do this race because it is new for us and we will be racing in the same moment as the men!” Bronzini said. “It’s another event where the woman can have the chance to put on a good show!

“I don’t think I’m really ready for this kind of effort but for sure I will be a good support for the team!”

Alongside the two Italian riders, Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling will field the climbing strength of Japanese Champion Mayuko Hagiwara and two-time Giro d’Italia winner Mara Abbott; while the team will be completed by tireless French rider Audrey Cordon-Ragot and Australian Chloe Hosking, who has already achieved incredible results this season in Australia, Qatar and Belgium.

]]>0Ben Atkinshttp://wigglehonda.com/?p=40932015-03-04T18:43:42Z2015-03-04T18:43:42Zmore »]]>Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Chloe Hosking and Jolien D’hoore finished fourth and fifth respectively in Le Samyn des Dames, a 112km race close to Mons, Belgium, in the French-speaking Walloon province. The race finished in a bunch sprint, won by Chantal Blaak (Boels-Dolmans), ahead of Anna van der Breggen (Rabo-Liv) and Emma Johansson (Orica-AIS), but only after a six-rider group that included Hosking was chased down inside the final kilometres.

“It was a good race for the team,” Belgian Champion D’hoore explained. “We were very aggressive; we we’re always riding at the front of the bunch, and there was always someone in the breakaways. So it was a pretty good team effort.

“In the end – on the last local lap – Chloe was in a breakaway of six, so that was perfect for us. We played the team tactics, and I could stay in the first group, but in the last kilometre everything came back together. Everything was a bit hectic and we didn’t have the time to communicate for the sprint, so we just did our own thing and it ended up with fourth and fifth. So not bad.”

After a 62.6km opening loop around the Walloon countryside, the race finished with two laps of a 24.7km circuit, featuring three sections of cobblestones and the climb of the Rue du Calvaire. Despite splitting several on several occasions, but reforming each time, the peloton was still together as it started the final lap; but this was when the group containing Hosking got away.

With the Australian were Johansson, Van Der Breggen, Megan Guarnier (Boels-Dolmans), Amy Pieters (Liv-Plantur) and Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Bigla). The six riders managed to build a lead of more than a minute but, with Boels-Dolmans deciding that they wanted more than just Guarnier in front, the Dutch team chased it down.

Despite the best efforts of the six riders in front, the break was caught with less than two kilometres to go.

“Boels had Guarnier in the breakaway, but she was not the right person for them as she’s not so fast in the finish,” D’hoore said. “So they kept attacking – one by one – but they couldn’t get away. So Ellen van Dijk decided that she’d close the gap on her own, and that’s what she did.”

As the best Belgian finisher D’hoore takes the yellow jersey as the leader in the Lotto Belgian Cup, but the Belgian Champion is not sure that the season-long competition will be one of her targets this year.

“It’s not a real objective,” she said. “It’s really nice that I have the yellow jersey right now, but if you want to keep it you have to ride every race of the Lotto Cup and I think that’s not possible. We will see how far I can go, but this is already a good start.

“It was a really big difference with [the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on] Saturday,” she added. “On Saturday I didn’t feel that good, but today was a real difference. I still felt strong at the finish, so that’s a good sign.

“I think I need maybe one or two more races and then I’ll be on my top.”

]]>0Ben Atkinshttp://wigglehonda.com/?p=40472015-02-27T14:50:50Z2015-02-27T14:50:50Zmore »]]>Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling is in Ghent, Flanders, for the first training camp of the year, with the aim of welcoming the new riders to the black and orange team, and having some fun, along with the serious business of preparing for the season ahead.

Day four was to be the day that the team was officially presented to the World, with an invited crowd of sponsors and journalists attending the launch at Ghent’s Monasterium PoortAckere. Each rider was introduced individually, along with the newly designed kit that the riders have been wearing – but not mentioning – all week.

Before the presentation was the small matter of getting everybody’s hair and make-up just right, and posing for plenty of official photographs for use in official team literature.

Team Manager Rochelle Gilmore is first in the make-up chair so she’s ready for the demands of the day

Mayuko Hagiwara waits her turn

A fresh coat of polish for Dani King’s nails

Anna Christian has her hair done ahead of the team presentation

Hair and make-up done, Mayuko poses for some fun shots

Jolien D’hoore is interviewed by Belgian TV channel Sporza for its Road to Rio series

We can see you Elisa! (Hide and seek lessons needed here!)

Sometimes Giorgia Bronzini wishes she was blonde like Anna Christian!

Dani King is very strong, but she doesn’t need to be to lift this year’s Colnago V1-r bike!

Chloe Hosking finishes her Journalism degree soon, this is in lieu of her graduation ceremony!

Giorgia is planning to clean up this season!

“Victory will be ours!” says Emilia Fahlin

Mara Abbott just loves the Campagnolo Bora Ultra wheels that she’ll be using this year!

Audrey Cordon-Ragot is an expert at juggling her nutritional needs with High5 Nutrition

Eileen Roe is very proud to be the first Scottish woman to win the British Criterium title

Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling will be wearing these beautiful shoes from fi’zi:k for a third year

Interviews aplenty for Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s athletes and staff

Orange juice only for Jolien D’hoore and Elisa Longo Borghini with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in two days

Dani is always in demand as she both comes back from injury and looks towards Rio 2016

Amy and Anna are Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s youngest riders

]]>0Ben Atkinshttp://wigglehonda.com/?p=40432015-02-27T12:58:55Z2015-02-27T09:09:23Zmore »]]>Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling will line up at the start of Saturday’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in Ghent, Belgium, with two big cards to play in the form of Belgian Champion Jolien D’hoore and Italian Elisa Longo Borghini. The 120km race forms part of the Flemish “Openingsweekend,” which sets the Northern Classics season in motion.

Ghent local D’hoore rode last week’s UCI Track World Championships, having competed in the Tour of Qatar earlier in February, but is reasonably confident about her form as she heads into her home race.

“I really don’t know how my legs will be because I haven’t ridden on the road for more than two hours in the last two weeks,” she admitted. “I’m going to see how I feel after the track, and then I’ll see for Saturday.”

As the beginning of the Belgian season, the Omloop is a big day for the city of Ghent, and D’hoore’s red, yellow and black driekleur jersey will take centre stage. Rather than feeling the pressure that this could bring, however, the 24-year-old feels that the weight of her national flag will spur her on even more.

“It’s a great motivation for me to ride in the Belgian Champion’s jersey, and also I know the course very well,” D’hoore said. “So that’s also an advantage, even if the form is a bit less on the road. But if you still know the course it can help you, and it can bring you far in the race I guess.”

Having ridden in Qatar with several of those set to line up on Saturday, and having spent a week training in Ghent with the entire team, D’hoore feels confident that those around her will be able to give her the support that she needs.

“Each of us is a very good rider and we’re all classy riders,” she said. “I put my trust in them, and I can work for them. Like Elisa: she has proved that she is very good in this kind of work – in these Belgian races – so I’m looking forward to it.”

Longo Borghini burst onto the international cycling scene as a 19-year-old, in 2011, with fifth place in the Omloop, under the freezing rain conditions that she has come to thrive in. Despite hailing from Northern Italy, the now 23-year-old is as at-home on the cobblestones as any Belgian, and can hardly wait for her European season to begin.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” she smiled. “Because I think that now it’s time to race, and to start the European season. It’s time to break the ice, and to go to fight.

“As I said, it’s the first race, so I just want to see what my level is, and how are the others. There are some nice races coming up further in the season, so I just want to see how I am, and how is my shape. Of course I love racing here, and I love the crowds that are on the street, and I love the parcours. I just want to enjoy the race.

“I think we are an extremely strong team, and I think we can play a lot of cards,” she added. “Of course, maybe I’m strong, but around me there are other strong girls, so we can play as a team.”

Alongside D’hoore and Longo Borghini will be Australian Chloe Hosking, who already has victory in the Bay Crits series and second place overall in Qatar to her name. Despite her early season form, however, Hosking is looking to play a supporting role to her two teammates on the cobblestones tomorrow.

“I definitely feel really good, and everything’s been spot on since Qatar,” Hosking said. “Obviously Qatar didn’t go so badly, but for sure I feel that there’s still room to improve. I feel like probably in the next three weeks is where the results will come, so Saturday is for Jolien and Elisa. I think those are really our two big girls, and I’ll be there to support them.

“For me the biggest challenge is getting over the Côte de Trieu, and if I’m there with those girls I can be a really big asset to the team. I’d love to see Wiggle on the podium, if not on the top step; it doesn’t matter who it is.”

Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s team will also include super-domestiques Emilia Fahlin, Audrey Cordon-Ragot and Japanese Champion Mayuko Hagiwara. British Criterium Champion will get her first European start for the team, having already raced the Australian criterium season in the black and orange jersey, while – having impressed directeur sportif Egon van Kessel during Wednesday’s course reconnaissance – 19-year-old Anna Christian will race in the colours for the first time.

“I didn’t really expect to be doing it, if I’m honest,” Christian admitted. “I rode the course [on Wednesday] and didn’t feel all that strong on the cobbles, but if I can go there and do a job – maybe in the first 50km or so – then I’m happy to do that.

“It’s probably the biggest race I could have started with!” she laughed. “But then it’s probably good to start big, because then you have nothing else to worry about. Once I’ve done that then I’ll know that the rest isn’t going to be as hard!”

]]>0Ben Atkinshttp://wigglehonda.com/?p=40412015-02-27T13:17:16Z2015-02-27T01:16:16Zmore »]]>Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling was presented to an invited group of media and team partners at the Monasterium PoortAckere, a converted monastery, in Ghent, Belgium with the stated ambition of finishing the 2015 season at the top of the UCI Rankings. 14 of the black and orange team’s 15-rider roster were present to officially launch the new jersey, complete with main sponsor Wiggle’s new logo design.

“Our aim for the season is to end the year as the number one team in the World,” said Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Team Manager Rochelle Gilmore.

“The main objective of this team is to win bike races, and every athlete in this room is capable of winning big bike races, and contributing to the huge success and our team goals.

“It is in our DNA, of all of us,” she added, “to have that same goal of progressing the sport and making sure we go in the right direction in the next few years. These are the athletes that have made the commitment to that.”

As a professional rider for many years, Gilmore has seen the sport of women’s cycling change beyond recognition over the years; a change that she, and Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling, has been very much part of.

“Women’s cycling has come on leaps and bounds in the last few years,” Gilmore said. “We never expected it to happen overnight, and that’s the thing that these athletes really understand about our sport.

“It’s a sport now that people want to be involved in, they want to invest in it, they starting in our sport. We’re sharing the same fans and followers as men’s cycling, so a lot of things are happening in women’s cycling right now, and it’s just a wonderful satisfaction for everyone that’s been a part of it.”

Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling was launched in 2013 and achieved results beyond all expectation. In its two seasons to date the black and orange squad has developed into a team that now has the capability to win any race in the calendar.

“We’re just starting year three, we’re only two years old, which is a little hard for some people to comprehend, said Gilmore. “When we started out in the first couple of years – especially the first year – we had very much single programme we were committed to one type of rider, on type of race, and wanted to get that right for the experience.

“In the second year we added a few more riders that we could support. Now we’re at the point, in the third year, where we’ve got riders that can win all types of races; flat races, Classics, Grand Tours. So we’ve really developed in that regard and it’s a lot to do with the athletes themselves, wanting to really create this team, so we can be dominant the whole year.”

Former two-time Road World Champion Giorgia Bronzini is one of four riders that have been with Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling since its inception, along with young Welsh rider Amy Roberts, Japanese Champion Mayuko Hagiwara and Olympic Champion Dani King. Returning for a second year are former Swedish and Spanish Champions Emilia Fahlin and Anna Sanchis, and newly crowned Australian Champion Peta Mullens.

Mullens was the one rider missing from the team presentation, since the Australian all-rounder is currently racing her mountainbike at the Oceania Championships, as Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling supports her ambitions both on and off road.

Adding considerable strength to the black and orange squad in 2015 are several new signings, including two-time Belgian Champion Jolien D’hoore, who is eager to show her driekleur jersey in Saturday’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Classics power also comes in the shape of World Championship medallist and Italian Time Trial Champion Elisa Longo Borghini, while the team’s sprint train will now benefit from the experience and power of Australian Chloe Hosking, who as already won the Bay Crits series and finished second at the Tour of Qatar in her new colours.

The team’s British roots are maintained with the addition of young Isle of Man prodigy Anna Christian, as well as British Criterium Champion Eileen Roe, who becomes the first Scottish rider to sign for a professional women’s team. The team also welcomes its first ever French rider in the shape of Audrey Cordon-Ragot.

The team’s Grand Tour potential is also boosted by the signing of former two-time US National Champion Mara Abbott, whose exceptional climbing skills have seen her win the Giro d’Italia on two occasions.

Finally, the team’s third Australian rider is Nettie Edmondson, whose dominant performance in last week’s UCI Track World Championships saw her take rainbow jerseys in both the Team Pursuit and Omnium. Nettie has also been successful already in the black and orange jersey on the road this year, taking the sprints jersey in the Santos Women’s Tour in her home city of Adelaide.

“We started two years ago ranked outside the top ten, then we were inside the top ten the second year,” Gilmore said. “We’ve started the third year ranked third in the World, and we have a very strong ambition – all of us – which we’ve had from day one, which is to finish our third year as the number one cycling team in the World.”

]]>0Ben Atkinshttp://wigglehonda.com/?p=39882015-02-25T22:45:14Z2015-02-25T22:45:14Zmore »]]>Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling is in Ghent, Flanders, for the first training camp of the year, with the aim of welcoming the new riders to the black and orange team, and having some fun, along with the serious business of preparing for the season ahead.

Chloe Hosking drills it on the Molenberg; the final climb of Saturday’s race

After the mostly fun events of the camp so far, day three got serious with a team reconnaissance of the course of Saturday’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. Similar weather to yesterday’s ride, along with the far more challenging roads, meant that this was to be the toughest day of the whole camp.

She may be from a long way away in Italy, but Elisa Longo Borghini was born to ride on this stuff

Blue skies over Ghent were cause for optimism as the Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling convoy rolled out of the hotel, en route to the race start at the “Vlaams Wielercentrum Eddy Merckx” on the outskirts of the city. As Directeur Sportif Egon van Kessel led the three Honda Civic Tourer team cars and the team camper van around the first 40km or so of the course though, the rain began to fall.

If there’s a cooler cycling jersey out there than the Belgian Driekler, I certainly haven’t seen it!

Heading south the the “Vlaamse Ardennen” it became clear that the athletes were in for a soaking as thorough as the one they had yesterday! The Kluisberg – or the Mont d’Enclus as it’s called as the riders crossed the border into French speaking Wallonia at the top – augurs the start of a succession of hills and cobbled sections that come thick and fast, in a course that’s in many ways as tough as the Ronde van Vlaanderen itself.

She might be a featherweight mountain climber but Mayuko Hagiwara can mash the cobblestones with the best of them!

Parts of the course appealed to the different characteristics and strengths of Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s athletes, with some powering up the short, sharp Belgian climbs, and some powering over the cobblestones. Many of them, of course, could do both. Some of the riders are more experienced than others on this course and others like it but, for two-time Giro d’Italia winner and super-climber, this was to be her very first opportunity to ride the famous Flemish “Kasseien.”

Mara Abbott gets the best possible guide in Belgian Champion Jolien D’hoore for her first ever visit to the Flemish cobbles!

You couldn’t get much more different from the Giro d’Italia, but it takes a lot to wipe the smile off Mara’s face!

Riders were cold and wet when they returned to the hotel, but were soon showered and warm and tucking into a later-than-usual-but-no-less-delicious lunch before enjoying some time for themselves in the afternoon.

Watch out for Anna Christian on all terrains this season!

Eileen Roe and Audrey Cordon-Ragot hit the Paddestraat. Hard.

Amy Roberts floats over the stones.

Giorgia Bronzini wishing she was back in the warmth of the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome

The hour before dinner saw Raph Deinhart, Technical and Marketing Coordinator from Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s nutrition partner, High5 (who’d joined the team on its ride this morning), talk the athletes and staff through the extensive range of products available; as well as how best to use them in racing, or training situations.

Raph Deinhart from High5 pits himself against the athletes of Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling

Raph takes the riders through the range of High5 Nutrition products and how best to use them

Raph explained the various merits of drinks verses gels, bars and supplements, which products were best for staying hydrated, best for preventing cramps, as well as how to use High5 Nutrition’s range of recovery products.

Yummy!

Chloe Hosking likes the sound of High5’s Zero electrolyte tablets, which can help prevent cramps

Anna Christian certainly does know how to “Race Faster!”

Shortly before dinner was actually served, Mary Killingworth from event event manager BrandNation talked the riders through the plans for tomorrow’s official team presentation. We can hardly wait!

]]>0Ben Atkinshttp://wigglehonda.com/?p=39432015-02-24T23:18:04Z2015-02-24T23:13:20Zmore »]]>Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling is in Ghent, Flanders, for the first training camp of the year, with the aim of welcoming the new riders to the black and orange team, and having some fun, along with the serious business of preparing for the season ahead.

Any visit to Belgium runs the risk of falling foul of the weather, and today was to be one of those days. The forecast of a fine morning, with rain in the afternoon, proved to be just the opposite, with the day’s first activity turning into one of the wettest rides of the year.

After a quick drive to the village of Melden, just outside Oudenaarde, the Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling athletes got on their bikes to take on the Wiggle Koppenberg Challenge. A cold, overcast morning soon got worse as the rain began to fall. By the time the riders had completed a short warm up ride it was pouring down.

The Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling team hits the cobbled slopes of the fearsome Koppenberg

The cobbles, whose gradients reach 22%, were now extremely slick, creating conditions that even the likes of Tom Boonen or Fabian Cancellara would struggle with. Local knowledge proved invaluable for Belgian champion Jolien D’hoore, who just managed to beat the on-form Chloe Hosking to the top.

On-form rider Chloe Hosking followed Jolien over the top

The worsening weather put an end to the planned scenic ride back the the hotel in Ghent, but the riders were determined to get some good kilometres in, despite the horrible conditions. Many of the team have only recently arrived from the hotter climes of Australia and Qatar, or the cosy warmth of the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome; but the strong pace kept everybody warm, despite the torrential rain and the generous quantities of traditional Belgian road grit!

After a well earned shower, some more training on the rollers for some, and a good lunch, the athletes assembled once more for the second activity of the day: the Wiggle #kitbagchallenge.

Team Manager Rochelle Gilmore lays out the clothes for the Wiggle #kitbagchallenge

Each rider would be blindfold, dressed in only bibshorts and undershirt, and be timed as they put on a short-sleeved jersey, armwarmers, legwarmers, socks, overshoes, long-sleeved jersey, gilet and gloves. All this first had to be tipped from a dhb backpack, with a few random items thrown in to help with the confusion!

Dani King blindfolds Mayuko Hagiwara – the first athlete to attempt the #kitbagchallenge

Several athletes started well, with the larger items like jerseys and gilts proving relatively simple. Many of those faster ones came unstuck towards the end though, as small items – particularly the socks and gloves – proved tough to find after the bag’s contents had been liberally scattered; despite “left,” “right” and “behind you!” instructions from their teammates.

That overshoe is on the wrong foot!

One final glove to put on for Chloe Hosking!

But where is that final glove Eileen?

The winner of the competition was former Spanish Champion Anna Sanchis, in a frankly impressive time of three minutes and three seconds; can you do better at home?

Nettie plants a surprise marshmallow in Anna Christian’s overshoe!

Is it those long Swedish nights that make Emilia Fahlin so good at getting dressed in the dark?

But nobody gets dressed quicker than Anna Sanchis!

With Team Manager Rochelle Gilmore’s own race clothing collected up, and the room cleared of it’s furniture, the final challenge of the day began: the #wigglewobblers Balance Competition.

This was a simple skills competition, with the riders taking to their Colnago V1-r bikes, to see which one of them could stay upright the longest without putting their foot down or touching the walls.

The #wigglewobblers Balance Competition begins!

Several of the riders surprised themselves, including British Criterium Champion Eileen Roe, who outlasted several of the track specialists! The competition was eventually whittled down to just Anna Sanchis, Jolien D’hoore and Giorgia Bronzini, who were to make up the three podium places.

The competition comes down to a straight battle between Jolien D’hoore and Giorgia Bronzini…

Anna finally succumbed to gravity, leaving just Jolien and Giorgia, who’d been such great teammates in last night’s wheel change challenge. Jolien was declared the winner after a nudge from Giorgia saw them both put their feet down, and the Belgian champion was awarded her second title of the day!

… but an “illegal” nudge from Giorgia hands the title to Jolien!

With the day’s challenges over, and with dinner out of the way, the series business of the training camp resumed. Directeur Sportif Egon van Kessel talked the team through the route of Saturday’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, ahead of tomorrow’s course reconnaissance.

]]>0Ben Atkinshttp://wigglehonda.com/?p=38692015-02-27T06:58:00Z2015-02-24T10:48:21Zmore »]]>The 2015 Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling team will be presented to the World on Thursday, the 26th of February, in the city of Ghent, the capital of Flemish cycling. The black and orange team is currently spending one week training in the area, with team building activities and specific preparation for the upcoming Omloop Het Nieuwsblad very much on the agenda.

The team’s media launch on Thursday will be the biggest event of the year – off the bike for the Wiggle Honda athletes and staff. It’s a major event for all the team’s members, valued and prestigious sponsors, partners and of course for their dedicated media associates from around the world.

As well as numerous members of the international press and media, other very important guests will include Marc Coucke, the CEO of Omega Pharma, who sponsors and invests in many sports including men’s cycling at WorldTour level. Coucke is keen to discover the professionalism in women’s cycling for himself, firsthand with a view to possibly invest at the highest level in the sport of women’s cycling in the near future.

Multiple Olympic and World Champion, and first ever British winner of the Tour de France, Bradley Wiggins, who has generously supported the team from the moment of it’s creation, is also keen to catch up with the Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling team athletes in Ghent this week.

Several of the team’s 2014 roster return, including former two-time road World Champion Giorgia Bronzini, newly-crowned Australian Road Race Champion Peta Mullens, and ten-time Japanese Champion Mayuko Hagiwara, however, a number of new stars will join the team in 2015 to compliment this already stellar line up.

New arrivals include Australian Nettie Edmondson, who recently dominated women’s endurance cycling at the UCI Track World Championships in Paris, taking rainbow jerseys in both the Team Pursuit and the Omnium. Also new to the team is Belgian Road and Omnium Champion Jolien D’hoore, who hails from Ghent, and is one of the most exciting riders ever produced by the cycling-mad Flemish region.

The team welcomes Elisa Longo Borghini, the prodigious Italian, who can excel on all terrains and in all conditions. The 23-year-old from Verbania in northern Piemonte already has a World Cup victory to her name, as well as two podiums in la Flèche Wallonne and a World Championship bronze medal, and is surely destined for even greater things this year. Mara Abbott, one of the greatest climbers of all time in the women’s peloton, also joins for 2015. The 29-year-old American has two Giro d’Italia victories to her name, in 2010 and 2013, with a third title at the top of her list of goals for 2015.

Despite its international roster, which boasts riders from nine different nations on four continents, Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling remains true to its British roots. The 2015 team not only retains Olympic Champion Dani King, and World Cup winner Amy Roberts, but has also signed British Criterium Champion Eileen Roe, and the young exciting Isle of Man talent, Anna Christian.

Anna Sanchis of Spain and Emilia Fahlin of Sweden remain in the team whilst new signings Audrey Cordon of France and Chloe Hosking of Australia both moved to Wiggle Honda in 2015 from the same team last year. Chloe Hosking took Wiggle Honda’s first victory of the season at the Bay Cycling Classic in Australia on January 2nd.

Activities at the week-long Belgian training camp have been focused on fun, but challenging team-building sessions, particularly incorporating the newest members of the Wiggle Honda team. The camp will bring the team together and prepare them mentally and physically for battle on the road during the coming months.

The team will be performing specific reconnaissance training on the Omloop and Flanders courses throughout the week, as preparation for the opening classic races ahead of the European season, and to build on the success that Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling riders have already enjoyed in both Australia and Qatar.

Thursday’s multi-media launch and presentation will be hosted by UK’s Ian Stafford, the famous British Sports Journalist, Author, Broadcaster & Speaker.

Journalists will have the opportunity to meet the riders of Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling, with many of the athletes available & scheduled for one-to-one interviews throughout the event.

]]>0Ben Atkinshttp://wigglehonda.com/?p=38652015-02-23T22:08:53Z2015-02-23T22:08:53Zmore »]]>Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling is in Ghent, Flanders, for the first training camp of the year, with the aim of welcoming the new riders to the black and orange team, and having some fun, along with the serious business of preparing for the season ahead.

Belgian Champion Jolien D’hoore leads her new Wiggle Honda teammates around her home roads

The first order of the day was to welcome Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s latest World Champion, Australian Nettie Edmondson, who struck Gold in both the Team Pursuit and the Omnium at the UCI Track World Championships this week. Nettie stayed in Paris with the Australian team last night, and travelled across to Belgium by train early this morning, but was ready bright and early for the first ride of the week with the rest of her teammates!

Chloe Hosking puts in a long effort on the ride back to the hotel

The ride was just to be a gentle spin on the flat roads around Ghent, as a foretaste of the sterner challenges to come later in the week, as well as those of the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad – the first race of the European season – on Saturday. It was an opportunity to spin stiff legs, particularly those of Edmondson, Giorgia Bronzini and Jolien D’hoore, who spent some hard days on the track, and Japanese Champion Mayuko Hagiwara, who only flew in from Tokyo yesterday.

Former teammates Emilia Fahlin and Elisa Longo Borghini are reunited once more at Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling

For some riders it was also a chance to hone their position on their brand new 2015 Colnago V1-r bikes, with many of them riding the Italian legend’s latest frame for the very first time.

Jolien is apparently happy about winning a mid-ride game of scissors, paper, stone…

Following a healthy lunch the afternoon was given over to fun, team building activities, with so many of the riders new to the team; although some of the newcomers have already raced in the black and orange jersey in Australia or Qatar.

Eileen Roe shows her teammates how quickly they can change their tyres in Scotland

The first challenge saw a repeat of one from the 2014 training camp in Italy, with a race to see which rider could change an inner tube the fastest. Olympic Champion Dani King redeemed her Italian performance with an impressive time of three minutes, eight seconds, which proved hard for the other riders to match.

Not to be outdone, Amy Roberts shows how fast they can do it in Wales

Clearly in a winning mood this week though, Nettie Edmondson added a title arguably even more prestigious than her two rainbow jerseys (bragging rights over her teammates that is!). Last to take on the challenge, alongside Mayuko Hagiwara, Nettie managed to remove and replace her inner tube, reseat the tyre and pump it up to 100psi again in a frankly impressive two minutes, 48 seconds!

Nettie Edmondson is in a Championship winning mood right now!

The second of the day’s technical challenges was one more likely to face the riders in a race situation as they were charged with removing and replacing both wheels of Team Manager Rochelle Gilmore’s own Colnago V1-r!

Eileen Roe and Dani King get the wheels in and out pretty quickly…

Working in teams of two, one rider would remove the wheels, before switching over for the other rider to replace them. Drawing on the skills and experience that makes them both such great champions, Giorgia Bronzini and Jolien D’hoore completed the challenge in an incredible 51 seconds; a time that nobody else was able to beat.

… but nobody can match the speed of Giorgia Bronzini and Jolien D’hoore!

The reason for some riders taking longer than others in both challenges is of course that, because the team races on Vittoria tyres and tubulars, the riders hardly ever get punctures!

Team Manager Rochelle Gilmore gets her bike back, and reckons she can do it quicker on her own.

]]>0Ben Atkinshttp://wigglehonda.com/?p=38162015-02-22T21:37:30Z2015-02-22T21:31:49Zmore »]]>Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Nettie Edmondson won her second rainbow jersey of the 2015 UCI World Track Championships with a stunning victory in the six-race Omnium event. Having already won the World title with Australia in the Team Pursuit, the 23-year-old Adelaidean took the lead in the two-day competition after three of the six events, then utterly dominated the second day of the competition with victory in all three of the remaining races.

Edmondson’s final total of 192 points was good enough to give her a massive 16-point cushion over former Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling athlete, Olympic Champion Laura Trott of Great Britain, while the Netherlands’ Kirsten Wild was just one point further behind in third place.

Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Belgian Champion Jolien D’hoore narrowly missed out on a Bronze Medal, having sat in a podium position for much of the competition, as she was nudged into fourth place by Wild in the final Points Race.

“I really can’t believe it,” Edmondson told Cycling Australia afterwards. “It is pretty special after the high of the Team Pursuit; this is just a bonus.

“This win is fantastic, but nothing compares to winning [the Team Pursuit] with my teammates,” she added. “I played that over in my head even warming up for this omnium.

“The women’s track endurance squad has been working so hard for the past few years, so to see the success come across the entire board, it is really exciting for all of us. It shows we are heading in the right direction. We are looking forward to the next few years.”

Edmondson’s competition got off to a solid start, with fifth place in the Scratch Race. The Australian won the bunch sprint, but four riders had managed to take a lap on the field during the 10km race. She followed this with second place in the Individual Pursuit, just three hundredths of a second behind Trott, and her combined total of 70 points out a possible 80 gave her the competition lead.

An uncharacteristic seventh place in the Elimination allowed Trott to close to just two points, but Edmondson ended the opening day of the competition in the Gold Medal position.

Day two started in perfect fashion for Edmondson, with her time of 35.064 seconds for the 500 metre time trial good enough for victory. With Trott only managing fifth, and Wild taking just 13th, the gap between the three riders began to widen once more. A Flying Lap time of 14.024 gave the Australian another victory, and meant that she was to have an almost insurmountable lead of 14 points over Trott going into the final Points Race.

Rather than sit back on that cushion, however, Edmondson went on the offensive in the latter stages of the 25km race. Having allowed her rivals to close the gap a little in the early sprints, and for four lowly-placed riders to take a lap shortly afterwards, the Australian Olympic Bronze Medallist was first across the line on sprints seven and eight. This meant that to defeat her, Trott or Wild would have to take a lap on the field; with time running out they had little chance of this, however, and Edmondson was crowned World Champion for the second time.

“I didn’t have to do anything crazy,” Edmondson explained, “and sure enough my three major opponents fought themselves over the first half of the race so I was quite fresh for the second half and I just had to make sure no-one took any laps.”

]]>0Ben Atkinshttp://wigglehonda.com/?p=37682015-02-20T09:06:38Z2015-02-20T09:06:38Zmore »]]>Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Nettie Edmondson won her first ever rainbow jersey at the 2015 UCI World Track Cycling Championships, at the Velodrome National, in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines on the outskirts of Paris. The 22-year-old Adelaidean was part of the Australian Team Pursuit quartet, along with Ashlee Ankudinoff, Amy Cure and Melissa Hoskins, that beat the Great Britain team of Katie Archibald, and former Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling riders Elinor Barker, Joanna Rowsell and Laura Trott.

“Unbelievable!” Edmondson said to Cycling Australia afterwards. “We’ve worked so hard for this. I’ve just spent every night of the last year dreaming about this so to actually go across the line and do it is… speechless.

In beating the British – who had held the title since 2011 – the Australian team also set a new World Record of four minutes 13.683 seconds for the four kilometre distance, smashing the previous best of four minutes 16.552 seconds, set by Great Britain in the Altitude of Aguascalientes, Mexico, in December 2013.

“We did a ’17’ in the second round, so we knew the form was there, and we were quite controlled,” Edmondson explained. “So I thought we could do a ’15’, maybe, if we really, really unleashed. But I didn’t look up at the scoreboard for two whole laps, before I looked up and I saw ’13’ and I couldn’t believe that!

“Then all of a sudden I was screaming even louder! That was a dream come true!”

“I don’t want to ever take this jersey off, I’m going to sleep in it tonight, I reckon!” Edmondson added. “To stand up on the podium alongside these three amazing women and to have Bec Wiasak watching us and by our side the entire time, to know she could slot in and do exactly the same thing, and to know we’ve got Bella King, we’ve got a whole handful of girls back home who have really stepped up is really promising signs for Australia in the lead in to Rio.”

Edmondson and Australia had thrown down the gauntlet early on, with a fastest qualification ride of four minutes 18.135 seconds on Wednesday morning, breaking their own, recently set, national record in the process.

Great Britain hit back in round one, with a time of four minutes 16.979 seconds, to beat Canada and qualify for the Gold Medal round. Despite a slightly slower time of four minutes 17.410, however, Australia’s comfortable five-second beating of New Zealand meant that the quartet could save something for the final.

Despite a faster start from Great Britain, Australia was almost half a second ahead by the end of the first kilometre, and this lead was up to almost a second at the end of kilometre two. Great Britain lost Rowsell at this point and, despite going down to three riders themselves not long afterwards, the Australians continued to open their advantage to what was to be just over three seconds by the finish.

Wiggle Honda Pro Cycling’s Giorgia Bronzini was also in action at the UCI World Championships, taking fifth place in Wednesday evening’s Points Race. The former two-time Road World Champion scored a total of 20 points at the ten sprints – more than any other rider – in a bid to take back the rainbow jersey that she won in 2009, but found herself too heavily marked to take a lap on the field and finished just five points short of the podium.